The widow of slain NYPD officer Jonathan Diller and an American recently released from Russian prison will be among the “everyday American heroes” honored by President Trump Tuesday night during his speech to a joint session of Congress, The Post has learned.
Stephanie Diller and Marc Fogel will also be joined by family members of Pennsylvania firefighter Corey Comperatore, who was killed protecting his loved ones when a gunman opened fire at a Trump campaign rally in Butler, Pa. this past July 13.
“We will never forget their stories,” a White House official told The Post.
Trump, 78, attended the Long Island wake for Diller, a married father of one who was shot and killed on March 25, 2024, during a routine traffic stop in Far Rockaway, Queens.
Diller, 31, had approached a suspicious-looking vehicle and had ordered the two men inside, identified as Lindy Jones and Guy Rivera, to get out, only to be shot dead by Rivera — who is awaiting trial on murder and other charges.
Trump spent 40 minutes at the wake, where he spoke with Stephanie and met the couple’s 1-year-old son, Ryan.
“I said, ‘Something has to come out of it,’ and the only thing that you could really think that could come out of it is we get stronger and tougher so this doesn’t keep happening,” Trump told The Post of his conversation with the Diller family.
“This isn’t just a New York thing,” he added. “I saw police officers from other states. I saw [officers from] Texas, I saw Ohio. So this has captured a moment, and I think it’s captured it from the standpoint that we have to get tough on crime, we have to get tough on criminals.”
In her eulogy, delivered March 30, 2024, Stephanie Diller asked: “How many more police officers and how many families need to make the ultimate sacrifice before we start protecting them?”
Trump has also repeatedly honored Comperatore — displaying his firefighting jacket at the Republican National Convention, a second Butler rally in October 2024 and his inauguration parade in January.
The president has praised the volunteer fire chief for laying down his life to be a “shield” for his family when gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire on the rally crowd.
Fogel returned to the US earlier this month after having been detained in a Russian prison for the past three and a half years on charges related to what he said was legally prescribed marijuana.
In 2022, Fogel was sentenced to serve 14 years in a Russian labor camp, and claimed the physical effort forced him into prison hospitals “for more than 100 days.”
Trump was able to successfully negotiate with Russia for Fogel’s release, fulfilling a promise to his 95-year-old mother, Malphine, who had asked Trump to bring her son home when they met at the July Butler rally, but the shots rang out.
“He’s got a great mother,” Trump said of Malphine Fogel, who will also be in the House gallery Tuesday night, after greeting Marc Fogel at the White House Feb. 11.
“And when I saw his mother at a rally, she said, ‘If you win, will you get my son out?’ And I promised – she’s 95 years old – that we’d get him out. And we got him out pretty quickly.”
“I had to get him back home because I would have big trouble with his mom.”
